“Now that we’ve gone over the theory, let’s dive into how it works in practice,” Curiosity announced.
“Just as every possibility has both a distance and a direction from reality, so does mana. In the case of distance, it can naturally be equated to mana’s [Potential]. As for direction, this is where things get a bit more interesting…
“But before I explain further, can you be a good spirit and remind me of the levels of intensity?” asked Curiosity, returning the little spirit’s ability to speak.
Unprepared for the sudden quiz, Chara was momentarily stunned before answering, “Um… they are, reserved, normal, and spell mana?”
“Correct~! And one more question: where does mana come from?” Curiosity asked again.
“Err… From the mana core?” Chara hazarded, recalling from the intensity explanation.
“Correct again~!” Curiosity swirled happily. “What I’m trying to get at is… all newly generated mana is initially reserved mana. That is, mana in its purest form,” she stated as she conjured a wisp of reserved mana.
“As the purest form of possibility, reserved mana has the potential to manifest absolutely anything. And yet, due to this very same characteristic, coupled with the myriad number of possibilities, it becomes ultimately unable to settle on just one, resulting in its usual inertness,” she narrated dispiritedly.
The iridescent wisp of mana swirled melodramatically, as if unable to withstand its own existence. It was too pitiful.
The little spirit stared blankly.
“Nevertheless, as this mana flows from one place to another, and encounters various kinds of phenomena, it gradually starts to form a preference, favoring certain possibilities over others. When this preference reaches a critical point, something fascinating happens!” Curiosity clamored.
The wisp of reserved mana churned ominously, its iridescence fading, and its color deepening. In the next moment, it evoked a gentle and refreshing feeling, like the color of water.
“It forms something called an [Identity] and transitions into becoming [Normal Mana],” Curiosity finally revealed. The newly converted normal mana did a little spin before bursting into a magnificent shower of illusory water droplets that sparkled before fading.
Identity…? A picture of Chara’s state ID popped into her mind. She didn’t have a driver’s license.
“Yes,” affirmed the swirling teacher. “[Identity] is like the personality of a mana particle. You can think of it as an inclination towards expressing its potential in a particular way. And the most basic form of identity is an [Element].”
Ah… it finally came! The little spirit swirled to attention.
She had been waiting for the curiosity spirit to talk about elements… practically since the lesson started. But instead, she was taught about casting, set up for failure, and then forced to attend make-up lessons! She had been thoroughly wronged!
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“There are exactly eight elements, each one representing a distinct direction of possibility. Anyways, since you are so smart, I’m going to give you a little test. Do you think you can pass it?” asked the greater spirit in a teasing tone.
The little spirit glared without realizing it. How could she stand being underestimated and treated like a child?
“Yes!” answered Chara.
“Great. Then, list out the eight [Elements], one by one, while I fill them in on this diagram,” declared Curiosity while shifting to the side and lifting the ominous black rock.
Chara’s gaze focused on the blank diagram. Upon reflection, she noted that the table indeed had eight spaces, corresponding precisely to the number of elements. While she had yet to discover fire, she assumed it existed.
“Water!”
Without hesitation, the curiosity spirit positioned her weapon of choice in front of the bottom-most space where she quickly doodled some stylized waves.
“Ice!”
The greater spirit repositioned her rock to the cell neighboring water from the left and drew some simplified snowflakes.
“Fire!”
The swirling teacher shifted her attention onto the cell on the opposite side of the chart, directly across from ice, and quickly drew a crude-looking flame.
“Earth!”
Curiosity sketched another crudely drawn rock.
“Lightning!”
Curiosity drew three zigzagging bolts.
“Wind!”
Curiosity squiggled some lines.
As the little spirit listed the names of various elements, the floating rock skipped across the whiteboard, leaving behind sloppy yet recognizable doodles. However, when she got to the element of “darkness,” the greater spirit stopped, and took nearly two minutes to fill in the entire bottom half of the inner circle until it was completely black.
“Light!”
The swirling teacher drew what looked like a stylized sun on the top half of the inner circle, right above the darkness element. When she was done, she gently lowered her writing utensil on top of her desk.
Chara had listed out all of the elements, and the map was complete.
Sketched Element Diagram [https://1drv.ms/i/s!AgpGMi0K-XJMkdNmfs6UAHdqYkjbww?embed=1&width=600&height=600]
Sensing her student’s expectant gaze, the curiosity spirit hummed in amusement and lathered her full of praise. “Wow. How did you become sooo smart~? Is it because your swirling is so neat and organized~? Or could it be, that you’re aspiring to be a wisdom spirit?”
In response, Chara’s mana swelled with confidence and pride. To be honest, she didn’t entirely understand the curiosity spirit’s compliments, but she thought they sounded kind of nice.
Curiosity chuckled before returning to her lesson. “Let’s see… From this point forward, mana becomes increasingly more complex and harder to understand, so you need to pay close attention.”
The little spirit bobbed up in down in understanding.
“Ah, good spirit~! Now, moving on from elements, we have [Essences],” introduced the swirling teacher.
Chara perked up. For a while now, she had known that her teacher was a [Curiosity Essence Spirit]. However, she still didn’t know what an essence was.
“Fundamentally, [Essences] are still elements. However, because their identity is so much stronger, they can express specific qualities of each element much more precisely.
“For example, tranquility is an essence of darkness, while sound is an essence of wind. Likewise, frost is an essence of ice, while curiosity is an essence of water,” expressed the curiosity spirit while swirling proudly.
“It’s not like you can’t produce frost or sound without the corresponding essences. It’s just that the process of casting will be a lot less precise, less efficient, and more likely to fail--! And this is only achieving the result! Let alone trying to make minor adjustments,” Curiosity criticized, not at all hiding her bias against elemental mana.
The little spirit’s swirling slowed, and her mana rippled thoughtfully. Umm… Curiosity being an essence of water seems a bit dubious, but I think I understand. Essentially, if elements are like broad directions of possibility like up and down, then essences are like more precise angles…
“Setting aside their utility when it comes to actual casting, the role of elements is not to be underplayed, particularly when it comes to their compatibility,” admitted Curiosity.